Hi, for the missing Taskbar icon, open the Start Menu > All Programs > Mozilla Firefox, then right click > Pin to Taskbar. For the adverts, try an ad-blocker add-on like [https://adblockplus.org/en/firefox Adblock Plus]. If you still have a problem with adverts, you may have malware installed on your computer that you aren't aware of. You can try these free programs to scan for malware, which work with your existing antivirus software: * [http://www.microsoft.com/security/scanner/default.aspx Microsoft Safety Scanner] * [http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free/ MalwareBytes' Anti-Malware] * [http://support.kaspersky.com/viruses/disinfection/5350 Anti-Rootkit Utility - TDSSKiller] * [http://general-changelog-team.fr/en/downloads/viewdownload/20-outils-de-xplode/2-adwcleaner AdwCleaner] (for more info, see this [http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/ alternate AdwCleaner download page]) * [http://www.surfright.nl/en/hitmanpro/ Hitman Pro] * [http://www.eset.com/us/online-scanner/ ESET Online Scanner] [http://windows.microsoft.com/MSE Microsoft Security Essentials] is a good permanent antivirus for Windows 7/Vista/XP if you don't already have one. Windows 8 has antivirus [http://www.microsoft.com/security/pc-security/windows8.aspx#antivirus built-in] already. Further information can be found in the [[Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware]] article. '''Note that not all removal programs will detect all malware, so you may need to run several or all of them.''' For information: Firefox should only be downloaded from mozilla.org since it can come bundled with unwanted junk from other sites. Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!